Just a quick note to say Happy Holidays and remind you that I’m off on my hike tomorrow. I’ve added flickr notes to a pic of what I’m taking with me. There is some shared stuff in my GF’s pack that isn’t included but I might add hers later. Click on the photo to get the notes.

I’m looking forward to this, most of I’m looking forward to seeing a sky full of stars again. I think it’s been a long time since I last got to see the whole night sky. Anyway so we have an early start tomorrow, dropping the dog off at the kennel and then the drive and start of the car shuffle to get up to Cradle Mountain. We have a night there and then we start, 80km in 5-6 days. Hopefully it doesn’t kill me.

We’ll been gone for new years too so Happy New Years. Have a great time.

I went to book the bus from Lake St Claire to Cradle Mountain today and found that there is no bus service on the day we need it. We could charter but the standard fees were 4 times more expensive and might have been even worse considering we need it on a public holiday. So it looks like we will be doing a 2 car shuffle unless we can think of some other solution or find someone who is looking to share a charter. That means driving two cars up to Lake St Claire, leaving one there, driving the rest of the way to Cradle and leaving one there. Then at the end of the walk driving back to Cradle to pick up the car from there and then driving back home in two cars again. Ain’t that going to be fun!

With a bit of luck we’ll at least get some good accommodation up there for the night before we start.

I’ve been putting a route idea into Google Maps\Earth which I’ll have up soon, it will give a better idea of my plans as they are in my head. I’ve found this to be a pretty cool way to do an Itinerary/Route mesh-up. I also have the Overland Track route mapped in it so I’ll post that too.

Over the weekend we had Christmas in November with my Parents\Sisters as they are going to the mainland over Christmas. We got movie ticket vouchers from Mum & Dad and Into the Wild comes out here in Oz tomorrow, so I’ll be seeing that since I’ve been hanging out for it for so long. Sounds like I will be going myself though, my girlfriend doesn’t want to see it.

I’m being tempted into a theme change. I think going to a magazine style theme like BraveNewTraveler and Vagabondish have gone to will allow me to organise my plans, routes, etc into something that is more attractive and more useful. To be honest though, I’m sick of the work that goes into changing themes and getting everything to work they way you want it again. If I continue to consider it I’ll be making damn sure I get a setup that is exactly what I want so that there will be minimal changes in the future.

I’m working on a more detailed and useful plan now, if it looks familiar it’s probably because I blatantly ripped it off from Dave, why? Well the layout was simple enough and very easy and useful to follow, so planning and keeping track of things is just much easier. Obviously it is a work in progress and although it may not appear that way I don’t want to have a day by day itinerary, days in each country are just rough estimates for now and even when I make the more specific later I’m planning on leaving enough time up my sleeve to be able to spend an extra week here and there as I decide on the road. My main travel plan is that nothing should be set in stone, if I want to change how long I spend in a country, go somewhere else or something like that hopefully I’ll have set my plans so they allow that.

After saying more than once that I would and filling out the forms 3-4 times, I’ve finally had my passport photos done and have them with my application. I will be putting that in ASAP before it gets even more expensive, it is now $200 for a standard 32 page passport. I’m not going to post the photos, they are as always, shockingly terrible. Along with that I also have to renew my drivers license and our national parks pass.

While Xmas shopping on the weekend I found a shop that had the two different versions of the Headlamp I was after, I ended up getting the “Tactical” version of the Princeton Tec Quad. The only real difference between the two was that the one I got comes with coloured filters which can sometimes prove useful.

Finally the map above shows the countries I will be travelling to (Red), the most likely last minute add ons (Green) and if by some miracle I can afford it, countries in Europe I would most likely visit (Blue). Map brought to you by WhereI’veBeen.com.

I’ve had my Mt Peaks for about a year now so I think I can give a fair review of them.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the XT GTX version which I think would have been better simply because of the different leather used.

My Mt Peaks were comfortable even brand new not that it took all that long to break them in anyway, when I tried them on in the store I had a rather large blister at the time and I could not feel it at all. The leather is well waterproofed and dries surprisingly quickly, although I haven’t used them in too much wet weather the gusseted tongue does and excellent job of keeping the water out while the lining also does a good job of keeping your sweaty feet dry. They give excellent support tight or loosely worn and have already saved my weak ankles countless times. They are built tough and even on the hardest terrain I’ve put them to test on (large collapsed dolerite columns), they came out of the bashing they received with hardly a scratch. I have never had a blister using these boots. So it has been all good news so far.

My one complaint is cushioning in the sole to me it appears to be non-existent and the sole is very hard which means after 3-4 hours walking I do get quite sore on the soles of my feet especially my “Big Toe”, even after taking the sole inserts out of my very comfortable Keen Taos and putting them in on top of the original soles it is still not a huge improvement. I haven’t heard anyone else complain of this so it might just be me the newer version of the boots may have improved it too, I’m sure once I find a good insert these boots will be perfect.
Recommended? Yes, but go for the XT GTX version, every time I see them in the shop I had wish they had been available and I know regret not trying out a similar boot by Garmont, their Dakota which looks just as good to me, probably better because it is not quite as bulky.

P.S - If the pictures don’t look they are in the right place, sorry. I’m having terrible trouble with them and I’m beginning to think it is a theme related problem, the uselessness of the wordpress Visual editor doesn’t make it any easier. If it try to center or right align and images lately they are all still on the left when I Publish/Preview. Something to work on. This one doesn’t seem to bad on the site but in feed readers, who knows.

Back in March I vaguely outlined my travel plans, since then a bit has changed. All going to plan with work September ‘08 will be the month I leave. I’ve created a map giving a general idea of the parts of the world I want to travel to and how much but I don’t have much more to go on. I’m adding in Eastern Australia, probably from Brisbane up to Cairns, I think that will get me into the swing of things and if my GF decides to come however far with me it will help that along a bit too.

So here is the map, I know it looks a bit like a kid has attacked it with a bunch of crayons but I never said I had L337 PhotoShop skillz. Please remember this is pretty rough and indicates where I would like to travel during my lifetime, not just for this trip. I’ve probably forgotten some places and accidentally coloured some areas that aren’t all that appealing but I think it still gives a good idea. Key? Red: is Must See, Orange: is Don’t Want to Miss, Green: is Will Try Get There Somehow and blue is just Island areas I’d like to see, although they are not prioritised.

I’m looking at having 10 - $15,000AUD for a minimum 6 months, I think it’s pretty safe to say you could potentially travel for a lot longer than six months on that. Who knows what the AUS Dollar will do between now and then, I’ve only been following it against the USD and if the trend continues there I might be looking even better. More maps to come soon with possible routes although I don’t won’t to over plan so they will be pretty general too.

If you haven’t been following Dave he is getting really close to his departure and because I’ve been following him since I started this blog I’m getting excited for him too. He has some info over there that is really useful and I’ve just found how I can use some of his planning details to help with my own, especially now dollar conversions are much easier for me.

The Overland Track is Tasmania’s and possibly Australia’s premier hiking experience, starting at the world renowned Cradle Mountain it snakes through Cradle Mountain and Lake St Claire National Park in Tasmania’s central highlands. The track is about 80km long (Depending on start/finish points and sidetracks). It is open all year round but in the walking season (1 November to 30 April) a booking is required which includes a $150 fee and the requirement to walk North to South.

Assuming you already have the gear required for a 5-8 Day walk and transportation (To Tasmania at least) arranged and are planning to walk during the walking season I will outline the planning and preparation required from there.

• Before leaving anywhere you need to book for the day you will begin the walk, you can do this at http://www.overlandtrack.com.au, by phone on (03 6233 6047) or in person at the Cradle, Lake St Clair, Freycinet or Mt Field visitor centers. From November 1 2007 the booking fee is $150* per person.

*The fee was previously $100, the recently announced $50 increase is receiving many complaints from Tasmanian walkers, Parks Minister Paula Wriedt attempted to justify the fee by comparing the track to other international walks, specifically New Zealand and calling the track “loved to death and crowded”. Media release, Track fee scare (The Mercury) and Walkers kick at fee hike (The Mercury). Unfortunately although the fee goes directly back into parks projects little of it is presently going towards the actual OT, fees are currently being mostly used to provide the shuttle bus service and visitor receptions areas for day visitors.

• Transport to and from the trail heads can be by private vehicle or bus, there are a number of bus services, TassieLink having one other the easier to book services, however it is worth shopping around. If you can arrange private transport for drop off and pickup it will likely save you a significant amount.

• Park entry incurs yet another fee, for visitors to the state the 8 week (vehicle) pass is probably the most suitable but you can check which pass best suits your needs at the PWS entry fees page.

It is a good idea to spend your first day at least just to explore the Cradle area, there are a number of accommodation options near the park entry ranging from backpackers to luxury accommodation everything in between. The Cradle Chateau has the excellent Wilderness Gallery which showcases photography of Tasmania and is really worth a look, however their accommodation is a little less inspiring than even many of the cheaper options. Prices are significantly cheaper during the winter months if you feel up to tackling the snow.

It getting closer to my own Overland adventure, so far all I have done is booked the walk, we still have to renew our parks pass about one month before the walk, sort out transport and I need to confirm the dog is booked into a kennel, which I’ll do today. It will be time soon to step up the training, I need to walk with a full pack more often and build some core strength so that I don’t pike two days in. I’ll outline some further preparation for the OT as I do it in future posts.

I booked our day to start the Overland Track last night, 27th December. The booking system only opened on the 1st July and I found that January already had a few days with only a few spots left in the 3 days the system had been open. The cost was $300 for two, steep really. Plus we need to renew out parks pass in December. Earlier in the year the minister announced the fee would increase from $100 to $150, citing that it brought the cost in line with similar popular walks in New Zealand (Eg, Milford and Kepler Tracks), what she didn’t mention is how much better managed those tracks are and how you get your value for money. The huts on the NZ walks are of a much higher quality and in bad weather you even get choppered to the next hut, the tracks themselves are also apparently in better condition.

The track is also apparently in danger of being “loved to death” and so a new walk of similar length is being planned on the Tasman Peninsula called the Three Capes Track, there seems to be a few problems with this plan.

1. It’s a completely different type of walk, it’s coastal not highland like the Overland. People walk the OT because they want to do a highland walk.
2. They are planning a similar booking system and fee before the track has even proven itself worthy.
3. New huts to be $40 a night, for a bunk in hut!
4. It can be walked in sections for free anyway.

Obviously I’m not really convinced it will lighten the load on the Overland Track, by itself though I think it could be good. I know the new walk wouldn’t sway me to do that instead of the Overland and I think there are a number of other walks they could have simply improved infrastructure on. The $40 a night adds up to $200 for the walk, $50 more than the OT, this probably means we can expect further increases to fees on the OT in the future.

I think the Walls of Jerusalem are an alternative now because they are not far from Cradle Mountain are free, plus you are more free to explore. If there is one thing I can suggest to the Tasmanian government it is a “Tasmanian Card”, Tasmanians should at least be able to do these walks at a discounted rate if not for free. Tasmanians only account for 6% of OT walkers so it wouldn’t be a huge blow to the budget, plus it could be extended to businesses. There are far to many places in Tasmania where locals are forced to pay tourist prices. And why the hell does everything have to be Gourmet? It seems we call it gourmet here even if it’s far from it. Gourmet goes beyond presentation.

[tags]Tasmania, Overland Track, Three Capes Track, Tasman Peninsula[/tags]

This is a bit of a Community Service Announcement, there have been a few reports in the news lately about the misuse of EPIRBs in Tasmania. Two notable occasions were a Swiss couple who activated their EPIRB after getting their 4WD bogged just 7Km’s from a main road and a group of South Australian’s walking the South Coast Track who became too tired to complete the rest of the walk, obviously the Rescue team was not impressed as they only lifter one person out so that he could arrange a private charter helicoptor to retrive the others, and fair enough. As I started writing this last night there was a short on TV that there would be a story in todays newspaper, so here is a link to the story on The Mercury website, SOS call for sanity. A couple of days earlier was this article, Wrong EPIRB use set to cost. Charging for misuse seeming to be getting a lot of public backing and it will probably go ahead, considering the Search and Rescue helicopter responds to most activations plus the usual services you can imagine it is quite costly, $1000’s for each call.

What is an EPIRB?

Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons. When activated, the beacons send out a distress signal that allows it to be located by the satellite system and search and rescue aircraft to locate the people, boat or aircraft needing rescue. They may also be known as Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).

When to use an EPIRB 

And by use I mean activate. Simply you should only use an EPIRB when your life is in danger, obviously a bogged car or tired legs don’t count as a life threatening situation. There are a few less dire situations where an EPIRB may be activated but I won’t list them simply because I want to avoid having to write a disclaimer, etc. I’m sure you can imagine for yourselves what they might be.

How to avoid having to use an EPIRB

As they say ”prevention is better than cure” and this applies to EPIRBs. On extended trips you should always carry enough food and water for at least an extra two days, that way if you get stuck somewhere because of weather or your just not making good time you have two days to play with.

Know your limits don’t set out on a week long walk if all you’ve done before is overnight trips.

Don’t panic, think with a clear head about what you can do to help yourself and what others might be able to do for you. Exhaust all other means of escaping the situation and most of all use common sense.

[tags]EPIRB, Emergency, Hiking, Tasmania, Safety[/tags]

[tag]Tasmania[/tag] is well know for it’s [tag]Hiking[/tag] and these walks are what I believe to be the best in Tasmania not only that but they are also some of the most picturesque and definitely the most demanding, although I have not ordered them as such. Tasmania really is the Hiking capital of [tag]Australia[/tag] I hope this and the features I have in the works will inspire people to visit and take in some of the world class experiences for themselves.

1. The [tag]Overland Track[/tag] is Tasmania’s premier walking track, starting in the world heratige [tag]Cradle Mountain[/tag] and Lake St Claire National Park at the famous and majestic Cradle mountain it takes you through Tasmania’s central highlands to Australia’s deepest lake, Lake St Claire.

2. The Western Arthurs in Tasmania’s remote South-West is possibly Australia’s hardest walk, it takes you to 22 major peaks and 30 glacial lakes and is home to the stunning Lake Oberon which is a paradise on par with The Beach before The Beach and the Tourists and the Longboats but for bushwalkers.

3. Frenchman’s Cap also in the South-West is another hard walk, just last week a walker fell and died in front of his walking partner, these two walkers were also the only ones on the track at the time. It’s not friendly and it starts by inviting you into what is often waist deep mud, it’s demanding and that is why it’s on the top of most Tasmanian climbers and walkers peak bagging lists.

4. The South Coast Track another in the deep South-West is so remote you have to fly in, or out depending on where you start or not at all if you turn it into a truely epic journey by adding on Melaleuca (the fly in\out point) to Lake Pedder. At the other end is Cockle Creek where Australia’s most southerly road runs to it’s end.

5. The Walls of Jerusalem is right next door to Cradle Mountain but is much less visited it doesn’t have any set track so you could spend a day or a week walking in the area at easy or hard levels, it makes the list for it’s beauty equal to that of the others and the simple fact that it is a fairly easily accessible are to explore at you own pace.

In time I hope to take a look at these walks and other Tasmanian attractions in more depth, anyone wanting to do these walks should have the appropriate experience, knowledge and equipment and do their research well before departing. For more photo’s check out this gallery by Famous Tasmanian photographer Peter Dombrovskis.

It’s about time I did this because it’s now been a while since I started this blog and I don’t think I’ve really explained at any point what my travel plans are. Currently my main concern is getting rid of my debt, so I’ve started paying off even more and I’m avoiding all other unnecessary expenses. Of course I would like to travel to practically every corner of the globe but currently the plan is to hit South East Asia first, probably starting in Phuket, Thailand and working our way around Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and possibly Myanmar. Depending on time and money potential extras could be China, Tibet, Nepal and India. The timeframe is in the next 1-2 years probably leaving Feb-March 2008 or ‘09, if leaving next year it will more than likely rule out those extra options, ‘09 could mean turning into a RTW trip and of course there is the option of leaving sometime between those dates.

What to do and where to go once there I want to leave pretty well open, of course there are quite a few typical destinations I want to see but I’m pretty happy to just let things flow when we get there.

There is so much I want to see in Europe, so much history and culture, I really want to get there too, I guess I just have to wait a bit longer and see where I’m at closer to the dates where it becomes more of a reality, things could completely change by then, regardless I will be going somewhere, nothing is going to stop that.